Individuals and businesses utilize a variety of messaging technologies to: socialize, communicate, and engage in business activities. Some of these messaging technologies include: email platforms, text platforms, instant messaging platforms, browser-based platforms, and a variety of social media platforms. Each specific type of messaging platform has its own set of interfaces and features, some of which may be device-type specific or may work better (with more features) on a given device type. Furthermore, most messaging platforms include their own Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that permit automated and program-based interaction with features of the messaging platforms.
As a result, businesses have little useful metrics as to how consumers are using messaging platforms to engage in activities with the businesses beyond direct interactions between an individual and a business over a specific messaging platform. The problem with this is that the messaging activity by an individual prior to that individual engaging a business is essentially unknowable with present technology and technology approaches.
Moreover, when an individual is engaged in an active session with a messaging platform from which a business has never had activity with the individual before, the business has no way of reaching out to the individual for purposes of offering services or for purposes of engaging in business activity with the individual. This is true, even when the individual would otherwise be known to the business and accessible to the business over a different messaging platform for which the business has engaged the individual previously.
Still further, when users connect to messaging systems, each messaging system has its own authentication mechanism; some of which may provide strong authentication and some of which may provide weak authentication. The disparity between different messaging systems in terms of the strength of user authentication means that any integrated activity of the user within a particular messaging system may fail because the action a user is attempting to take may require stronger authentication than what the user was authenticated for within the particular messaging system.
Additionally, some services require more than one-factor to authenticate users. Two-factor authentication is often used to assure a service of a user's true identity. Something a user knows, such as a password may be a first factor whereas a second factor typically seeks to resolve something that user possesses, such as a phone. However, if a user commonly uses a device, such as a phone, then using the device as a second factor greatly reduces the effectiveness of two-factor authentication.